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Thursday, December 29, 2011

*Please note that until I have more YES stuff to talk about, this will mostly be my day-to-day ramblings. Which, can sometimes be mildly entertaining I suppose.

I woke up not bright-eyed and bushy-tailed at 4:45 AM. I tossed and turned the entire night before, so my sleep level was rather low. Also add to the fact that I was sleeping on the floor, and I was, and am, rather bleary. We met up with the rest of the family about an hour after we left in the middle of nowhere, considering that's what half of Colorado is. Farmland.

The drive in itself was about 9 hours, and I played Sims 3 (a wonderful game...and I don't really know why) for about 4 of those hours. The rest, I stared listlessly out the window while I jammed out to some of my favorite music (Anberlin, Black Veil Brides, and Panic! at the Disco). Now, we are finally at the hotel. I'm still sniffling my way through boxes of tissues, and will go through many more tomorrow, because of the fact that we are here for my Great-Grandma's burial.

We leave either tomorrow or the next day, so I will have 9 more hours to play Sims and maybe work on my YES app! (My only problem is I can't read in the car)

Buenas Noches,

Olivia

For now, I leave you with another picture from yesterday. I'm airplane-photo happy.

Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Today was one long string of travel. Add the unfortunate fact that I have caught a cold, and you have a rather tired and sniffly Olivia. My family and I had to drive three and a half hours to the airport, catch our flight, have a quick layover in Salt Lake City, then we were finally home. Now, we will drive twenty-two hours in the next 48. I'm mildly exhausted.

Anywho, something good came out of my hours spent in flying tubes with wings (really if you think about it, that's what airplanes look like...), and that is the near completion of all my essay questions for my YES application! *does a small dance then falls over from a coughing fit* That is highly exciting for me, as it marks the near completion of my application. I just need to finish up the host family letter, add my pictures, parent statement, transcript, and I'm done!

Well, I must get to bed. I have to get up at the zombie-like hour of 4:30 AM tomorrow.

Tuesday, December 27, 2011

My name is Olivia (or Liv, as the title of this blog implies) and I am applying for the '12-'13 Kennedy-Lugar YES Abroad scholarship.

For those of you that don't know, the Kennedy-Lugar YES Abroad scholarship was started after the September 11 terrorist attacks to help forge connections and relationships between muslim countries and America. This year, 55 students are being sent to various countries (Bosnia & Herzegovina, Oman, Egypt, Turkey, Thailand, Malaysia, Morocco, Mali, Ghana, India, and Indonesia) to live and study. They become youth ambassadors, educating others about American culture, while learning more about their host countries culture. This is just a very basic description, but hopefully it gives you some insight as to what the program is.

At the moment, I am finishing up my application. Aside from the occasional oh my goodness, I hope that my personality shines through enough moments, it has actually been kind of enjoyable. Yes, I just said I liked filling out an application. It's exciting, and makes everything seem so real. However, sometimes it is hard to put down my exact thoughts. It sounds good in my head, but sometimes not as swell on the page. My top countries at the moment are Oman, Egypt, Turkey, and India. However, if I got chosen, no matter what country I got, I would fall to the floor in paroxysms of delight.

Well, nothing else too terribly interesting is going at the moment, but I will keep you updated!